Uranium mine near Grants, New Mexico

Uranium mine near Grants, New Mexico

This short video depicts uranium mine dumps in Poison Canyon, near the intersection of Hwy. 605 and Co. Rd. 23, NW of Grants, New Mexico, and shows examples of the radioactive minerals and their effect on a gamma-sensitive scintillation detector. Most of the radioactive rock here is Jurassic Todilto Limestone, containing organic black / brown uraniferous humate minerals and numerous colorful secondary uranium minerals like carnotite and tyuyamunite.

12 Comments

  1. Carl Willis on May 12, 2022 at 10:44 pm

    @David Vermillion: I don’t know the coordinates, but the street address is given in the description.  (Unrelated: If you want people to reply to your comments on YouTube, you need to enable comment replies using the drop-down menu at the right of your comment.)

  2. Teemo league on May 12, 2022 at 10:46 pm

    In new mexico, we drink uranium on a daily basis.

  3. 天沼 sm アメPS2djX N2O T U hertz on May 12, 2022 at 10:56 pm

    Alhambra Mine (Blue Bell Mine) ?
    Gillerman E. Mineral Deposits of Western Grant County ?
    Granada Prospect (Osmer Silver Prospect) ?
    White Signal District ? Blue Jay Mine ?

  4. J& K on May 12, 2022 at 11:01 pm

    I was born and raised in Grants. You used to be able to get around some of the mines before they started reclaiming. One on Mount Taylor wasn’t far from a small group of homes. That stuff was everywhere…

  5. kirby wilson on May 12, 2022 at 11:06 pm

    Nice NaI(Tl) scintillation detector. It’s very sensitive to gamma rays in a wide range of gamma energies. This is NORM (Naturally occurring radioactive materials). It’s not that dangerous as many think. Radioactivity is all around us. Most of this NORM is found in Sierra-Nevada batholiths and in the Rocky Mountains (plutonic rock). It’s mostly Uranium-238 and Thorium-232, and their decay nuclides. It keeps the Earth’s core hot, too.

  6. Reeno kopli on May 12, 2022 at 11:16 pm

    1:37
    1:44

  7. 1stEcho on May 12, 2022 at 11:32 pm

    My father was a chemist at a uranium mill that was at or very near this location. This was more than fifty years ago when I was just starting school in Grants, but I remember the mill and his labratory quite well, as I do the company picnics up on Mt. Taylor and Bluewater. Unfortunately my dad died of cancer…

  8. alfaradiation on May 12, 2022 at 11:33 pm

    Wow. Interesting review indeed. What were the readings on the instrument? Did you build the scintillation probe? How much would you charge to sell a piece of the mineral from Poison Canyon.

  9. maskedavenger777 on May 12, 2022 at 11:36 pm

    @DKmhun It is most dangerous if the carnotite and such dust up and fly into the lungs. I am not sure how fragile the crystals are but many minerals can spore off quite easily into the air. Asbestos is one.

  10. Free Irish/Mexican American Girl on May 12, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    So how would you say our drinking water out here in Grants is? And how’s the air on a windy day?

  11. DKmhun on May 12, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    Isn’t it harmful to touch?

  12. The Q on May 12, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    What’s the coordinates?

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